Among the Sands and Stones
by Hikari-san42
Summary: In a time of peace, a young Pharaoh rules the sands of Wahdj, a desert country nestled besides the River Emerald. That peace is shattered when foreign invaders being to infiltrate the country. When the gods realize that their treasured son is in trouble, they send the only thing that can solve the problem: He's a blue hedgehog, and he's fast enough to handle anything thrown at him.


TITLE: _Among the Sands and Stones_

AUTHOR: Hikari-san42

RATING: T for minor swear words and some violence

DISCLAIMER: All recognizable material and characters belong to SEGA or their rightful owners. Anything otherwise is owned by Hikari-san42 and may be used with her permission.

PAIRINGS: None

SUMMARY: AU. In a time of peace, a young Pharaoh rules the sands of Wahdj, a culture-rich desert country nestled besides the River Emerald. Most are happy with their simple existence in this place, but, soon danger comes in the form of foreign invaders. But, these foes are sneaky, blending in with the local people and slowly infiltrating the palace. When the gods realize that their treasured son is in trouble, they send the only thing that can stop the problem. He's blue. He's a hedgehog. And, he's quick enough to handle everything thrown at him.

WARNINGS: Watch out for plot holes and confusion, as well as some OOC. I'm trying my hardest to keep them all in character, but there's bound to be some screw ups somewhere.

TIMELINE: AU.

**NOTES**: Wahdj of Mobius runs in parallel with Egypt of Earth. Many of the gods keep the same names – because I'm not creative enough to change them and I respect other cultures enough to not meddle – and most of the culture remains the same. I basically took the characters of Sonic and transposed them into Egyptian culture as we know it. I've tried to do research on Egypt and I'm pretty sure I've succeeded, but if I get anything wrong, be sure to tell me.

A NOTE ON NAMES: All character names have been kept the same for the duration of the fic, simply because I'm not creative enough to go to a translator and find words that start with the same letter and mean something of a character trait for each character, and I rather like the names they have and think they suit them very well.

I realize that I shouldn't be posting this, as I have three other stories I should be working on, but this has been sitting on my computer for a while, and it was beginning to suffer from over editing because I was looking at it too much.

DEDICATION: This WHOLE STORY goes to my awesome and very well loved friend, Yami-sama42. It's her description and betaing skillz that totally and completely make this story. Without her, it would be one garbled mess with no description at all. I'm good at concepts and brainstorming, not so much description.

* * *

_**CHAPTER 1 **_

The sands are peaceful, not a flicker of wind or animal, and the deep calm of the desert was overlooked by only the brightest of suns. The star stared down at the bleak landscape unwaveringly, as if a silent witness to its existence.

Many were frightened of that sun, for it meant death in this place unless you were properly supplied. Dehydration was a fear deep rooted in the minds of the desert people, but they had long managed to push it to the back of their thoughts.

Because, through this dry place flowed a river so clear that the waters looked blue, with the barest of a green tint. It's from this coloring that the river takes its name, long called by the surrounding inhabitants.

The Emerald River is surrounded on one side by nothing but pure sand and one can see in every direction for distances unfathomable. But, what is there to look at, really? Just dunes and the occasional tree.

On the other side, a civilization kisses the bank. Its people are hardy, animal-shaped individuals who live freely and happily. Most are formed like the animals that would thrive in this environment: lizards, snakes, small birds, dogs. There are some though, that go against nature and shouldn't be anywhere near this climate. But, they survive like the rest, and all the inhabitants of the city live in harmony under one ruler.

The Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh was everything every subject wanted from a ruler: just, kind, understanding. He also wasn't a stranger to his people, walking amongst them regularly and holding an open court twice a week to hear complaints and compliments.

The people were happy, even more so than usual, because the Pharaoh's Queen had recently announced news of pregnancy and she was due any day. Everyone celebrated the new birth with sacrifices to the gods, hoping and praying for a healthy baby.

There was no better life, the people thought happily as they gazed at the visage of their pharaoh as he rode in a parade through the city, his round wife sitting near him, than in the walls of the city.

o0o

_**EIGHT YEARS LATER**_

Knuckles wasn't a happy echidna.

He had been walking for hours in the desert sun, with nothing but his red fur and a pair of sandals to protect him from the elements. He had already been burned to a crisp beneath his fur and he could feel the effects of dehydration beginning to affect him. His violet eyes were hooded against the sinking sun glinting harshly off the sand, and his bandage-covered hands hung limply at his sides. With every step, his feet seemed heavier and his knees begged harder for him to stop and sink into the sand. His breath was already coming quickly and roughly, as if he had just finished running a great distance instead of walking in the harsh heat. Salt from sweat released hours before – when he still had water in his body – caked his fur and seemed to make it weigh twice as usual.

But, he knew he had to keep going, if he hoped to live. His purpose here had long been forgotten as his survival instincts kicked in and his will to live outweighed anything that had been running through his mind before. He had long since gotten past the mirage stage of his dehydration, partly through his father's training, and partly because his mind wasn't creative enough to come up with decent images to conjure.

As he walked, he could sense the sinking of the sun behind him, and he knew that he would have to find a decent place to stop for the night. There were bandits out here in the desert, and, even if he didn't have anything of value for them to steal, he knew they would hassle him. He just didn't have the strength or will to be messed with at the moment and so he trudged forward, now keeping an eye out for a tall dune or tree that he could hide under or in.

And, it was in this no-nonsense mood that he stumbled across the blue one.

He had finally spotted a suitable group of trees for him to sleep in – thickly bunched around a small pool of water, which he drank about half of – and was about to climb into the middle and tallest of the oasis when he heard the most obnoxious voice call out, addressing everyone and no one at once.

"_- don't think I will forget this, you windbag! I did my fair share of your dirty work! In fact, I did _more _of my fair share! I was inches from death, you selfish little-!"_

The voice trailed off for a second, as if there was someone responding, before picking back up a few seconds later with renewed fervor.

"_Oh, don't give me that!_"

Knuckles sighed before stalking away from his trees and towards the voice. It was obvious that he was going to have to shut whoever this was up so he could get some sleep. Silently, he circled the trees and took a left at the nearest sand dune, tracking the voice to its owner.

The idiot didn't look exactly like what Knuckles was expecting. Blue, – a color not usually seen among Mobians, but, with his own red fur, he didn't hold that against him – hedgehog, and dressed in finery worn in the palace by the Pharaoh and his advisors, this lunatic didn't fit the part assigned him in Knuckles' mind. In fact, Knuckles was starting to doubt that he was actually hearing someone yelling and wasn't imagining it in his exhausted and shattered state.

That was, until, the hedgehog opened his mouth and started to yell up at the darkening sky, the voice mirroring the one he had heard.

"I'm not needed here! You're just overreacting! You know full and well that he can take care of himself! I _don't care_ if he's only eight years old! He's the freaking _Pharao_-"

He cut off then, as if sensing Knuckles' presence, and twisted around. Green eyes that could rival the Emerald River widened as he took in the exhausted echidna standing behind him. Knuckles did likewise, studying the hedgehog in turn. He was thin, but not in an unhealthy way, with sinewy muscle snaking its way up and down his arms and legs. He was clothed in an elegant robe, trimmed in gold, and had several gold bracelets adorning his wrists. Around his neck hung a cord of thin rope, laced through another of the golden circlets. This one was more elaborate though, with hieroglyphics depicting an amazing battle against an unknown enemy garnishing it. That small gold ring tugged at his brain, as if it were linked to some memory that was escaping him.

"_Heeeelloo_o…" The hedgehog sang out in surprise after a nice stretch of silence.

"What," Knuckles started before pausing, taking in the wild look in the hedgehog's eyes, "are you doing?"

"Uh…" The blue one stuttered, glancing everywhere but at Knuckles. "I was… uh…"

"**Now look what you've done, Sonic."**

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. It filled Knuckles with glee as well as dread and left him feeling full and like somewhat empty. Somehow, it was full and devoid of any emotion all at once. The echidna was a little unnerved, because the voice seemed to not have any gender, timbre, or pitch behind it, but still managed to whistle through his ears and pierce his heart. He whipped around, trying to find the source of the unnatural voice before snapping back to the hedgehog to see if he was the cause.

The blue one seemed to relax and stiffen at the same time, if that were possible. "Don't you go blaming this on me!" He barked quickly, turning around to face the speaker.

Knuckles hadn't noticed the falcon standing a few feet behind the green eyed one, leaning carelessly on his left leg and with his right hand fisted carefully on a slender hip. He was pretty sure that bird hadn't been standing there a few seconds ago, and there was no way _that voice_ came from it.

But sure enough, when the falcon opened its beak to speak, the voice echoed throughout the desert. Knuckles was a little shocked that the entire kingdom didn't hear the booming sound of this bird's tweet.

"**I will blame this on you, young one, because it is your fault. You were the one who insisted on chewing me out as if I were your child, when it is clearly the other way around.**"

At these words, the hedgehog seemed subdued and he threw an apologetic glance at the bird, his ego obviously not letting him say the words aloud.

The falcon nodded towards the blue one before turning his full attention towards Knuckles.

"**Knuckles, son of Locke, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." **

Knuckles blanched and stumbled backwards a few steps, now officially declaring himself desert-insane. There was no other explanation as to why this _complete stranger_ knew his name, unless…

He shook his head. There was no way.

"**I can sense the hesitation and doubt inside you Lockeson, and I can assure you that you are not going crazy."** He paused, letting Knuckles catch his bearings as well as puzzle over the statement. **"You were correct in your earlier assumption, my child. I am Ra."**

Knuckles felt his knees buckle under him as the name was uttered without fanfare or introduction. He could sense the pure _power_ behind those two letters as well as the love and conviction for the people who prayed to it. He could not comprehend how he had not realized it earlier, or how he could have remained standing for so long in the presence of a _god_. He felt rather than heard the hedgehog chuckle at his prostrate place on the ground and he realized that the blue one had somehow moved so he was standing beside him. Knuckles sent him a glare for the blatant show of disrespect to one of their gods.

He shrugged in response to the echidna. "I've already died and passed Anubis' test. I have nothing more to prove. Plus, he knows I respect him." He jerked his head in the direction of the falcon. "In my own way." He added with a devious twinkle in his eye.

If Knuckles was confused by this statement, he didn't have time to show it.

"**I have called you to this place for a very special reason, Knuckles."** Ra began after the exchange between echidna and hedgehog. **"For, you see, I am need of your services."**

Knuckles gulped, quickly glancing towards the hedgehog. **T**he boy had moved from his standing position to lie in the sand with his eyes closed, looking for the entire world like he was asleep.

"**The one you gaze upon now," **the falcon-god continued, seeing Knuckles' eyes fall upon the blue one, **"is one you may or may not recognize. But, I shall tell you the story to reinvigorate your memory."**

o0o

_Back in the days of the Great War against the enemies that move silently across the sands, there was great trouble in the land. Trouble that weighed on the hearts of the people, the soil that sprouted the crops, and the river that supplied the people with the water they needed. There was much trouble those years, among them hunger and dehydration, and many were losing hope as their sons died on foreign soil across the River. _

_Then, the Pharaoh pleaded with the gods, going so far as to trying to sacrifice his only child. The gods put a stop to that quickly and answered the Pharaoh's calls with only two words: __ Blue Wind__. _

_Months later, as all hope was slowly draining from the land and the people, there came a miracle. _

_Every time one of Wahdj's armies met an enemy force, a flash of blue would fly past the soldiers' very noses and attack the opposing army. The blue burst kept the people of Wahdj confused for a whole season, because of its peculiar practices. It never stayed for longer than a few seconds, and – even more peculiarly – it never killed, leaving the people it attacked merely stunned. It left the killing to the soldiers, not that they were hesitant in doing so._

_These strange happenings led to a massive amount of wins by the Pharaoh's attack force, and it lifted the people's spirits considerably. But, it also began the stories. _

_Myths and legends were begun about the blue blur that would race along the battle field, about how it was a spirit, a demon, or even a citizen of the country. Of course, most passed that last one off as rumblings of a lunatic, but some still silently believed in a hero hiding in their midst. _

_Soon, as the last battle of the war drew near, and the soldiers prepared, the people started up a cry for the identity of the thing that was helping to slay their enemies. They demanded that the Pharaoh give up his information – for he had to know __something__. Of course, the Pharaoh was as clueless as the rest of the people, not that he would admit it, and he started to make excuses – half mumbled statements that people could take in any way imaginable. _

_Eventually, the one causing the blue flash knew it was time to show himself. _

_He chose his time well, dashing about the battle field of that last gruesome battle with a speed only he possessed. He jumped and spun and kicked with all his might, knocking out enemies right and left – but never killing – before disappearing. _

_Until the end that is. _

_Hours later, after the foe's king had been captured and hauled off to the capital city, the Pharaoh stood on the battle ground, surrounded by his men. All were humming in victory was well as in thanks to the gods, awaiting the voice of their Pharaoh, for he was sure to make an amazing speech._

_But, as the king raised to his head to speak, one of the sentries still on guard called out. There was something fast coming their way – fast and blue! _

_The soldiers didn't have time to scramble for weapons because the thing was already upon them. It circled them once, twice, like a bird of prey rotating around its possible victim. _

_Then suddenly, it stopped. _

_In the place of the blue wind that had so haunted the minds of the people, stood a blue hedgehog. _

o0o

"Oh…" Sonic hummed from his place on the ground without opening his eyes, interrupting the story. "You should've been there, Knux. Their faces were classic." His face had a whimsical look about it, as if he were reliving the memory in his mind's eye.

Knuckles' eye twitched at the nick name, but he didn't say anything about it, just glanced at Ra before asking, "But, that was almost fifty years ago. How…?" He gestured at the young looking hedgehog. "He wouldn't even have been alive then…"

Suddenly, the azure shaded one was on his feet and in front of Knuckles. The echidna blinked, surprised at the fast movement, but held his ground against the shorter male. His green eyes were dark, as if suddenly reminded of a harsh memory and he scowled towards the one in front of him.

"I'll tell you how." He remarked shortly, glancing back towards the god when he opened his mouth to comment. "_My_ version of the story."

Knuckles knew his jaw was hanging open, but he couldn't help it.

The hedgehog quickly snapped his hand up and closed the echidna's mouth. "Don't look so surprised. I've already told you: I'm dead. Plus, Ra can tick a person off at times with his biased 'I'm-a-god-and-you're-not-so-I'm-right' attitude." He shot a look over his shoulder towards the falcon, but the bird's face was stoic, not letting any denial or acceptance of the hedgehog's statement through. When the echidna didn't offer any type of remark – his face spoke millions though – the hedgehog sighed and ran a hand over the top of his head. "Now, before I pour out my soul to you, I would like to properly introduce myself. My name is Sonic."

Knuckles bit down at the smart comment that bubbled up his throat before nodding slightly. "I'm Knuckles."

Sonic nodded. "Okay, now that that's out of the way, let me tell my version of the story." He paused, glancing back towards the god. "You might want to get comfortable. It won't be as pretty as _his_ was."

o0o

_I was only a young child when I was orphaned, about five cycles old. My parents were both killed when we were robbed by a pack of white wolves. They tried to fight back, but the leader – the one marked with a large scar going straight down the right side of his face – decided their interference was too much and he brutally ended them right in front of me. When the others remarked on the small child huddling in the corner, he just laughed and cuffed me on top of the head. I was out in seconds and when I woke, they were gone without a trace. The rest of my young life was spent jumping from one family to the next, always being careful to never get picked up by the patrols that circled the cities, because orphans were always made into palace servants. _

_I discovered my speed three cycles later, when I was but eight. I had been simply walking down the street, not even a pair of shoes to my name, when one of the royal guards spotted me. He called to his comrades and they started to chase me. I tried my hardest to outrun them, but they trapped me. They were going to take me to the palace, where I would be put to work. _

_I was a freedom devoted creature, even then, and I fought with all my might. I managed to catch the one holding me in the gut with my foot and he dropped me. Not a second later, I was up and on my feet, running through the sands and streets__as fast as my legs would carry me._

_They immediately took after the chase again, but – this time – I felt something inside me snap. I urged my feet faster and they__did as I wanted; I darted faster than I thought was possible__**,**__ and the air rippled behind me. After a few seconds, I knew I had lost them, but I was without__care. I felt freer than ever before. It was extraordinary, and as I ran, I had hoped the stone beneath me wouldn't shatter. _

_I left the city within moments and was suddenly in the open desert. The sand gripped at my ankles, but I once again urged myself faster and continued gaining speed. Soon, I was moving fast and light enough to glide__over the sand. I could feel the wind ripping__through my short quills and the sunlight on my back, but I knew that as long as I kept on, nothing could ever hurt me again. _

_I wanted to go faster, but the air was pooling up in front of me, trying to push me back. _

_I didn't let it._

_I gritted my teeth and pushed forward. The air split in two and there was a tremendous boom. It shook me to the core and was the loudest noise__I'd ever heard. I thought for a moment__that the gods were protesting my__running at this unnatural speed, as if I were approaching their constituency. But, I never slowed. I kept moving__until nightfall. Then, I stopped to rest. At daybreak, I ran again. _

_The next few cycles followed this simple pattern. I would run all morning, find food somewhere, run again, and then sleep. I was building stamina, you see, because I knew exactly where I was taking my life. _

_A season after my initial run, I met a young man, named Wentos, in the desert. He was a roamer, laden down with a large basket full of things he sold at the various markets throughout the kingdom. He showed me many of his things in exchange for some company – which I was glad to provide. _

_One such item he had was a strange shoe. It was made out of the same material as a regular pair of sandals, but it was… fortified, I guess you could say. It was designed to withstand high temperatures and tough treatment. He told me that he couldn't sell them, because they were too bulky to be practical – instead of just a simple strap over the foot, these wrapped up and around, not even letting the toes to peek through – but they were light and I was in need of shoes. (One would think that my feet would have been torn up by the high speeds I had been running at, but they had already been heavily callused from walking across the hot ground everyday and I had lost a fair amount of feeling. Eventually, I knew, the force of the ground would eat away the dead skin, but I had had high hopes that I would find shoes by then.)_

_I quickly liberated the shoes from him, trading a loaf of bread and a skin full of water as well as my guidance into the next town – I had circumvented this part of the landscape four or five times already by this point. After dropping him off there, I took off again, exploring the rough terrain. _

_Along the way, I taught myself to fight, jump, and spin. Hedgehogs naturally feel the need to curl into a ball when threatened, and I learned to use this to my advantage. My quills are unnaturally sharp and grouped together, something I've always hated, but they were very useful when attacking something like a tree._

_Jumping was another matter entirely, because my legs were strong horizontally – like when I was running – but not vertically. I had to build up those specific muscles, which was painful, but I eventually was able to leap from one tree to another without problems. _

_Soon, I became a well versed fighter – at least, against the chance__tree and sand dune. I needed to test out my skill somewhere. _

_At this point, I was around thirteen. The death of my parents had been lost in the fog of childhood, but I still felt a pang of longing when I saw a random kid with their parents in the market when I bothered to drag my sand-covered body into a city. The face of the leader wolf was still pressed into my mind, as if the memory had burned itself there. _

_One day, I decided to sleep on the outskirts of a city instead of a distance away like I normally would. All was quiet like usual, until around the middle of the night, when most of the population was asleep. There was a short snap followed by some whimpering. I was up on my feet and across the sand in seconds. _

_What I came upon managed to surprise me, even though I was expecting it. The same pack that had killed my parents was attacking a small dwelling. The only inhabitants of this structure were a woman duck and her three children. The ducklings were huddled together in a corner, the oldest girl pressing herself in front of the younger boys. _

_The leader of the faction__had the mother by the arm and was dragging her around the room, demanding in low tones that she show him where she hid all of her expensive jewelry. (I learned later that her husband was very important in the government and could afford such things.) _

_I made quick work of the whole pack, moving so fast that they never saw me coming. I knocked them all out quickly, leaving the leader for last. His questioning expression as he frantically looked from one fallen comrade to another was priceless and I allowed him one look at my face before my foot connected with the side of his head. _

_The recognition in those eyes made me smile._

_The mother fell to the floor out of relief and stared up at me. I was looking at the men who I had taken down. I had enough reason and anger to kill them all, but I knew I couldn't. I wasn't a murderer, not like them, so I made sure the woman and her children were in good health before waiting for the mother to go get a soldier to remove the men from her home. When I heard her approach, accompanied by the voice of a man, I left out one of the windows. _

_After that, my life didn't revolve so much around running. Instead, I focused on city-hopping and stopping illicit persons like those men. _

_The next few cycles of my life blurred together. For every appalling action that I ended, there were two more to take its place the next night. I tried my hardest though, feeling extremely superior after every night. _

_But, when I turned fifteen, war broke out. _

_At the beginning of the war, I didn't pay much attention. I mainly focused on the cities and tried to stop the rising crime rate. (Thieves got braver in times of war since there were no men to protect their families.) Eventually – well into the war – I noticed how many of the people were losing their spirit. I eventually realized that my place wasn't in the towns, but on the warfront. _

_I managed to make it to the battlefield in a day's time and I waited out the arrival of the enemy in the shadows of the dunes. When they showed up, I attacked quickly, knocking many of the men unconscious. Then, I retreated back behind my dunes and watched the proceeding battle. _

_I followed the Pharaoh's army after that, always the first to attack. I weakened the enemy more in the span of a few seconds than the whole army did during the whole fight. I knew this was mostly because I wasn't expected and the other army wasn't protected enough from my fast feet. _

_But still, the fact that I could take out half an army by myself along with all the stories I'd been hearing about myself from the soldiers as they kept watch, bloated my ego. I started to get cocky. I let myself be more easily seen by the enemy. _

_By the time of the last battle, I had completely convinced myself that I was invincible. In my mind, I was unkillable and there was no way to hurt me. _

_Therein lies my mistake. _

_Instead of attacking at the beginning like I usually did, I chose to attack in the middle, when the two armies were already battling. I managed to go about thirty seconds without injury. But then, the side of my head was grazed by a sword and the shock of actually being hit made me lose my focus for a second. I fell out of my spin and onto my back, where all the air was knocked out of me. _

_I sensed rather than felt the knife that was headed my way, and I managed to roll to the side just as it landed where my head used to be. I was bleeding excessively out of my face where I had been sliced, and I immediately lost my spirit. I attacked maybe five other people on my way out of the battle and that was only out of self preservation._

_I was out of the fight for five minutes before I realized how cowardly I was being. I had coped with my bleeding already and I took a deep breath before throwing myself back in. _

_This time, I was more careful, watching where I jumped and controlling my spins more. I didn't waste my time on showy moves that only my eyes and mind could comprehend at this high speed and I took out as many of them as I could in the time I allowed myself. After that, I sat and watched the army win the battle with baited breath. _

_Once it had ended, I realized that it was time that I showed myself. I had been concealing my real identity from everyone for far too long now and I was tired of hiding. _

_So, when the Pharaoh went to make a speech, I darted from the shadows of the dunes, and – always for the dramatics – I circled the army twice before halting with my back to them and a smug look as I gazed at them over my shoulder_.

o0o

Sonic dropped off the story in the same place as the sun god. He had started pacing while he was talking towards the middle of the story and there was a nice rut in the sand. He swallowed a thick ball of saliva to wet his dry throat before looking up at Knuckles.

The echidna didn't say anything, just stared at the cobalt mammal out of shock. Not only was his story amazing, but he spoke with an amazing eloquence that he didn't seem to possess when he was speaking normally. In fact, from what he had seen, Sonic seemed like the type of person who would speak in the fastest way possible, cutting corners to get to the end of his sentence. The fact that he had managed to tell that full story amazed Knuckles as well as impressed him.

"What," Knuckles started, "eventually _happened_ to you? How did you die?" He knew it should have freaked him out that he was asking someone how they had _died_ but, strangely, it didn't.

Sonic shrugged, his eyes flashing in the dark. (The sun had since sunk past the horizon.) "I caught a sickness that was traveling through the people a few months later and it took me while I was asleep. Pretty awful after everything I'd done." His eyes darted towards the falcon. "Irony at its best."

There was silence after that for a while and Knuckles glanced lightly back and forth between Sonic and their sun god. He could feel the tension between them easily, since Sonic was apparently holding his death to the falcon's credit. The god did nothing to comfort his blue subject, just looked at Knuckles.

"**Now, Knuckles, for why you are here."** Knuckles blinked once. **"In one cycle**," Ra began, "**your current Pharaoh will die and his son will take the throne. The boy will only be nine but he is incredibly brilliant for his age. He will have no trouble running the kingdom – with the help of his advisors, of course – but there is something sinister hiding in the background of his rule.**

"**This boy is in trouble, Lockeson. He will be targeted by a great enemy. An enemy that only Sonic can protect him from.**

"**I have brought Sonic back with the intention of infiltrating the palace and befriending the small Pharaoh, but he has no way in. Things are not as they were. The Pharaoh's current staff advisor won't take just any slaves into the palace anymore.**

"**So, a few months after the current Pharaoh's death, the Emerald Guardian will take sick and die. You will automatically be chosen as the next one, because of your lineage and because of your relation to one of the Pharaoh's advisors."**

Knuckles nodded, understanding lighting on his face. "You want me to take Sonic into the palace with me as one of my servants?"

The falcon nodded slowly, glancing towards Sonic seriously. **"Of course Sonic has to agree as well, and he has voiced his opposition to my plan quite clearly.**"

Knuckles frowned in the direction of the hedgehog. The cobalt one rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Think about it if you were in my place, Knux." _That nick name again_. "I was relaxing in _Aaru_ when Ra just picks me up and drops me here, in the middle of the world I had already let go, just because a Pharaoh too young to take care of himself is in trouble. A Pharaoh that wouldn't be in trouble in the first place if his father didn't have to die while he is still so young." He paused before shrugging again. "But, I guess I'll help, if only because I was started to get bored in _Aaru_."

Knuckles was a little shocked at the quick acceptance of the plan. _But_, he mused, _if he was already dead, what did Sonic have to lose_?

_**END CHAPTER 1**_

* * *

_This story has been a long time in the making – the first draft of this having come into being in 2010. However, back then, I did not have enough faith in my writing ability to think that I could tackle something like this, so I let it die. I have since revived it, and here we are today. _

_That being said, this story does not, in any way, draw any parallels with my other AU, past/history based story _Unstoppable Inferno, Uncontrollable Flood._ They are two totally different entities, and every character has been treated differently in both stories. _

_I will not claim to be an expert on Ancient Egyptian culture, and I know that there will probably be a whole bunch of screw ups on my part, but that's why this is an AU. I'm not so much using the actual history, more so our _perception _of the history. _

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. _

_Reviews are cherished. _


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